RELIGIOUS ART | NEWS OF WEEK - Fifth Sunday of Lent

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By Gregory & Ernest Disney-Britton

William Blake's "The Woman Taken in Adultery" (1805), Museum of Boston Fine Arts, Pen and watercolor over graphite pencil on paper, 14 × 14 1/2 in.

Do you live like you are 16 or 60? After seven weeks wearing a monstrous fracture boot, Ernest replaced 2019 plans to skydive with baking. His lesson from the fall is to play it safe. How have you reacted to injuries? In today's Gospel story, Jesus meets an adulterer (John 8:1-11). One lesson is to repent and never sin again. Another is the shame of criticizing others, “Let him that is without sin cast the first stone.” Everyday we choose between 16 and 60, and that’s why William Blake's "The Woman Taken in Adultery" is our art of the week.

RELIGIOUS ART | NEWS OF WEEK - 4th Sunday of Lent

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By Gregory & Ernest Disney-Britton

Max Beckmann's "The Prodigal Son" (1949); Oil on canvas; Sprengel Museum (Germany - Hanover)

When Ernest picked today's Gospel representation for St. Luke 15:11-32,  he picked it because it captured his spirit during his sixth week with a broken heel. It’s been a busy but glum week, looking backward to days before daily icing and raising his swollen foot above his heart. In the painting, the son glumly spends his inheritance with laughing harlots. Is he thinking back to better times in his father’s house? We are huge fans of Max Beckmann, and his Expressionist style, and that’s why Max Beckmann’s “Prodigal Son” is our Lenten art of the week.

RELIGIOUS ART | NEWS OF WEEK - 3rd Sunday of Lent

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By Gregory & Ernest Disney-Britton

Giovanni domenico Tiepolo (Venice 1727-1804) "Christ and the barren fig tree" ; oil on canvas; 33 x 75 in. (Courtesy of Christies in June 2015)

It’s been five weeks since Ernest’s foot fracture, but as the heel heals, his calf muscle weakens. We could cry about the calf, but instead, Christ’s patience teaches us to plan for running soon. In the late 1700s, Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo depicted an angry Christ destroying a fig tree that did not produce fruit. However, in this week’s Gospel on the 3rd Sunday in Lent, we explore Christ’s great expectations for us, but also his patience (13:1-9). That's why Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo’s “Christ and the barren fig tree" is our  our Lenten art of the week.

RELIGIOUS ART | NEWS OF WEEK - 2nd Sunday of Lent

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By Gregory & Ernest Disney-Britton

Denis Du Mikhaylov's "Transfiguration" (2015); acrylic on canvas;  59.7 x 90 cm

This past week, Ernest's surgeon immobilized him for 4-8 more weeks, but he also removed 11 stitches. Even in moments of darkness there is light. Just look up. On this second Sunday of Lent, and 25-days after Ernest broke his heel, we look at Denis Du Mikhaylov's "Transfiguration" (2015) inspired by Raphael’s “Transfiguration of Christ" (1516-1520). By anchoring this work in the past, the painter portrays our dark present (bottom) but also points to a divine future (top). That makes Denis Du Mikhaylov's "Transfiguration" our Lenten collector's pick of the week.

RELIGIOUS ART | NEWS OF WEEK - 1st Sunday of Lent

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By Gregory & Ernest Disney-Britton

Bartolomé Esteban Murrillo's "Christ healing the Paralytic at the Pool of Bethesda" (1670); oil on canvas; National Gallery, London

After emergency foot surgery, Ernest returned to work wearing a fracture boot and riding a knee scooter. All week, he felt tentative and diminished but on Saturday, a movie scene reminded him of John 5:1-9 when Christ healed a lame man. In an instant, the man was healed, and Jesus said, “Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.” What won’t Jesus do for us? Last night, Ernest finally asked Jesus to heal him, and he felt instantly stronger. That’s why Bartolomé Esteban Murillo's “Christ healing the Paralytic at the Pool of Bethesda” is our our Lenten art of the week.

RELIGIOUS ART | NEWS OF WEEK

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By Gregory & Ernest Disney-Britton

Shamira Wilson's "How Does Your Garden Grow?" (2019)

Shamira Wilson's work is rooted in storytelling. She is an emerging visual artist, and was featured at the 23rd annual Art & Soul celebration in Indianapolis. She is also a recent graduate of the Herron School of Art. Wilson works in a variety of media, including furniture, sculptural work, paintings, and prints. During this week’s Artist Talk, she explained that much of her work is related to maternal imagery, and specifically “African American maternal imagery.” That makes Shamira Wilson's "How Does Your Garden Grow?" our collector's tip of the week.

RELIGIOUS ART | NEWS OF WEEK

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By Ernest Disney-Britton

Ernest's fracture boot fitted at Dr. Lyon's office in Indianapolis after breaking right heel in Key West, FL

Greg said I had to post something about my accident in Key West. Okay, here it is: I fell and broke my foot. So, the Key West urgent care doctor sent me home to Indy to see a specialist. Now, I am wearing a stormtrooper boot for a few weeks. I should be back to climbing again very soon. While recovering, I have three books to finish, “New Power” by Henry Timms, “Another Country” by James Baldwin, and “You, Your Child, and School” by Sir Ken Robinson. Hopefully, I didn’t bore you too much with this update. I’d have been bored had you posted it! That makes my broken foot the news of the week. Yikes!

RELIGIOUS ART | NEWS OF WEEK

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By Gregory & Ernest Disney-Britton

Anila Quayyum Agha's "This is NOT a Refuge 1" (2019) - lasercut, resin coated aluminum and lightbulb, 8 x 6 x 4 feet at Talley Dunn Gallery in Dallas, Texas through March 23, 2019

It’s 27 degrees in Indy this morning, but we’re heading to 80 degrees of warmth at our refuge in Key West. In Psalms 46:1, the writer says, “God is our refuge and our strength, A very present help in trouble,” and when it’s cold, the help we need is a flight to Florida. On a serious note, the artist Anila Quayyum Agha is also interested in a refuge, but as safety from fear and pain. When at our worst Americans deny refuge. That is why Anila Agha’s “This is NOT a Refuge 1” is our art of the week.

RELIGIOUS ART | NEWS OF WEEK

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By Gregory & Ernest Disney-Britton

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in Rennie Harris' Lazarus. Photo by Paul Kolnik

Alvin Ailey’s iconic “Revelations” is the big draw this week at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Wash, DC., but it was a new work “Lazarus” by Rennie Harris that wrecked Ernest. The Washington Post reviewer described the experience as being thrust into “painful territory.” There is slavery, lynching, and AIDS, but finally, there is a resurrection. The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater grips audiences in the same way as the art we bring home. The lighting, sound, costumes, dance, and transmutation of faith make “Lazarus,” our art of the week.

RELIGIOUS ART | NEWS OF WEEK

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By Gregory & Ernest Disney-Britton

Beauford Delaney’s “Rehearsal,” 1952, showing choir members preparing for a service.

Author James Baldwin called Beauford Delaney his “spiritual father.” Delaney (1901-1979) is one of America's most important painters of the 20th century, a modernist known for his portraits and urban scenes. Both Delaney and Baldwin were Black artists, and victims of anti-gay bigotry, a bigotry that is growing in the 21st-century as evidenced in this week's assault on actor Jussie Smollett. Delaney's work is now in a group show, “God Made My Face: A Portrait of James Baldwin" in NYC. Being gay & Black makes Beauford Delaney’s “Rehearsal” our art of the week.

RELIGIOUS ART | NEWS OF WEEK

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By Gregory & Ernest Disney-Britton

From the series "Río Abajo: Drifting Away #7" (2008) by Erika Diettes at the Museum of Contemporary Religious Art, Saint Louis, MO

Erika Diettes is a photographer who explores issues of memory, pain, absence, and death. Her “Río Abajo: Drifting Away #7" is one part of a photographic series of twenty-six pieces of clothing created in response to the disappearances of her fellow Columbians. Like the play “The Diary of Anne Frank,” Diettes’s #7, a corpse-like blue shirt floating down a river is a spiritual charge to face violence early, including our own MAGA movement. “Drifting Away #7" by Erika Diettes is now at the Museum of Contemporary Religious Art, and that’s why it is our art of the week.

RELIGIOUS ART | NEWS OF WEEK

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By Gregory & Ernest Disney-Britton

Kehinde Wiley's "Saint Jerome Hearing the Trumpet of the Last Judgment" (2018) inspired by Jusepe de Ribera in the collection of the Saint Louis Art Museum. Oil on linden, 96 x 72 in

Who is the greatest artist of our age? It’s Kehinde Wiley, and the monumental evidence is currently on dramatic display at the Saint Louis Art Museum. What better way to make underserved audiences feel part of their museum than to commission eleven original portraits of community members for display inside the museum? Wiley's "Saint Jerome Hearing the Trumpet of the Last Judgment" is inspired by a 1621 etching by Jusepe de Ribera. See them both through February 10, and that’s why “Kehinde Wiley: Saint Louis” is our art news of week.

RELIGIOUS ART | NEWS OF WEEK

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By Gregory & Ernest Disney-Britton

""The Resurrection of Christ" (1622) by Johann König

What makes life worth living? On Friday, we saw the dramedy, “Every Brilliant Thing,” where an actor shares his list of one-million things that make life worth living. Four things on our list are: #1. Six inches of snow; #2. Eight perfect push-ups; #3. Finding lost puppy-toys; and #4. The luminous colors of “The Resurrection of Christ” at the Cleveland Museum of Art. What makes life worth living? We know it’s worth it because we know that God is present (Ecclesiastes 3). That’s why Johann König’s “The Resurrection of Christ” is our brilliant thing of the week.

RELIGIOUS ART | NEWS OF WEEK

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By Gregory & Ernest Disney-Britton

Juan Gonzalez, "Free Fall," 1993, from the collection of Teresa and Lawrence Katz. (Courtesy of MOCRA)

We all know the story the Church celebrates this Sunday, Epiphany Sunday, but when did you last take a leap of faith? In “Free Fall” by Juan Gonzalez (1942-1992), seven men dive into a watery abyss. Like the three wise men in Matthew 2:1-12, Gonzalez’s divers confront both the promise and fear of a leap of faith. Religious iconography and Spanish Surrealist styling are apparent in Gonzalez's paintings, and this work is now on exhibit in Saint Louis at the Museum of Contemporary Religious Art. That is why Juan Gonzalez’s “Free Fall” is our news of the week.

RELIGIOUS ART | NEWS OF WEEK

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By Gregory & Ernest Disney-Britton

Gregory Disney-Britton, co-creator of the Alpha & Omega Project for Contemporary Religious Art, at home with, from left, Quincy Owens + Luke Crowley's “Prime IV” (purchased 2018) and Tony Melendez’s “Capricorn Greeting the Celtic Moon” (purchased 2014). 

Near the end of 2018’s Advent Fast, a gin loving friend asked, “When is that shit over?” We prayed for him. In Matthew 10:17-22, Jesus said, “You will be hated by all because of my name, but whoever endures to the end will be saved.” We began 2018 with a promise to fast, pray, and praise by collecting art created in His name, but we fell short. We did however have long talks with Quincy Owens about his art of the religious imagination. Creating spirit-filled work despite distractions is why “Prime IV" by Owens & Crawley is our acquisition of the year.

Advent - Week Four: Reflections on joy inspired by the art of Justin Dingwall

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By Ernest Disney-Britton

Abus, Thando Hopa, Sanele Xaba, Justin Dingwall, Albinism, Albino, White, Africa, South Africa

Those living with albinism in South Africa and nearby countries have been subjected to extreme prejudice and acts of violence, but what if they could experience a life of joy? Through his series, Justin Dingwall dispels the negative myths and taboos associated with albinism in South African culture. On a larger scale, he hopes to challenge idealized notions of beauty and celebrate the value of variance. His images, like the waiting of Advent is not about commercialism or being fashionable. It's about prompting a discussion about what we consider to be beautiful. In this series, profiled on Alpha Omega Arts this year, we've been able to explore images that resonate with joy. [Artist]

RELIGIOUS ART | NEWS OF WEEK

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By Gregory & Ernest Disney-Britton

Detail: David LaChapelle's "Nativity" (2012) Templon

The wait is over. Olivia was born on Tuesday (Dec. 18, 2018). She is our grand-niece, and we want to be her favorite uncles. Teddy bear time? At work, after 3-years of preparation, we launched IndyArtsEducation.org. Moreover, in NYC, photographer, David LaChapelle is ending a commercial phase of his career and beginning anew with his religious works such as "Nativity." Advent is about waiting for a brand new beginning, and honoring that wait is essential for Christians. That's why David LaChapelle's "Nativity" is this week's art of the week.

Advent - Week Three: Reflections on love inspired by the art of Justin Dingwall

STELLENBOSCH VISIO

Abus, Thando Hopa, Sanele Xaba, Justin Dingwall, Albinism, Albino, White, Africa, South Africa

Justin Dingwall’s interest lies in the unique and the different; “to me diversity is what makes humanity interesting and beautiful”. Recurring motifs of butterflies, snakes and water suggest notions of rebirth, metamorphosis, fluidity and flux; reflecting Dingwall’s desire to inspire a change in perception and indicate that beauty is not a fixed ideal but rather one that is ever shifting and changeable. The conception of beauty as it exists in Albus is one that is ambiguous, subjective and diverse. For more information or for the full catalogue of artworks please contact the gallery on gallery@cavalliestate.com or call them at 021 851 3218 or 082 5607672. [Artist] [More]

RELIGIOUS ART | NEWS OF WEEK

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By Gregory & Ernest Disney-Britton

"Visitation" (1529) by Jacopo Carlucci Pontormo

Who did you visit with this week and why? In this painting, Pontormo (1494 – 1557) depicts the visitation of the Virgin Mary on her pregnant and aged cousin Elisabeth. Many artists have depicted this moment, but this time, we witness it through Pontormo's Mannerist style. Back home, this week, we visited friends and family at Pastor Vivian's house, the Artsgarden, The Cabaret, on the phone, and on Twitter too. Yes, it's a holiday tradition, but it can also relieve tension. That’s why Pontormo’s “Visitation” at the Morgan Library in New York City is our art of the week.

Advent - Week Two: Reflections on peace inspired by the art of Justin Dingwall

DESIGN DABA
By Justin Dingwall

Abus, Thando Hopa, Sanele Xaba, Justin Dingwall, Albinism, Albino, White, Africa, South Africa

I love all of my images in the series because they are all so different. I use specific elements to foreground the symbolic meaning behind each work. Water is an element I uses to reflect society’s perceptions. Water suggests self-reflection and it is often used in literature as a symbol of change. The snake that I used in my newer works connotes transformation - as in the shedding of old skin to make way for new and also, as in medical discourse, to represent healing. Another symbol of nature used in this series is the butterfly. By using butterflies my aims was to influence the viewer’s vision to be transformed, allowing them to view albinism in a new light - as something unique and beautiful. In the process of transformation, butterflies go through a major metamorphosis changing to such an extreme they are unrecognizable at the end of the transformation. [More]